FAITH CAPSULE: When you call on Him, and not on man, He will remember, rescue and redeem.

Exodus 3
Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7) It is not enough to be fluent in His word if there is no abiding in His word. When you abide in Him you will be known in Him. The grace of God is sufficient, and it will make it possible to live the word of God. Whoever knows His name and call on His name shall be saved, and this salvation is not maybe or could-be salvation, it is certain salvation. It is impossible to know the name of God if you don’t spend adequate time in His presence. Spending time in His presence is spending time in the Word. Which of His Names do you know? Is it the name you have heard Him being called, or His Name that you have encountered in the pages of the Bible? For Moses to be able to execute the assignment he was called for, he went and inquired from Him about His name. God responded, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 15And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” (Exodus 3: 14-15) His name has not changed. His name will not change and His name will continue to make changes because His name is for all generations. Do you know Him? Are you known in Him? Call on His Name and you shall be saved. After Pharaoh had turned down Moses’ request the first time, Moses went back to God. God insisted and repeated His name to Moses as the only weapon that will bring forth result. Pharaoh, an agent of evil, persisted and Moses persevered. Jesus’ parable of the importunate widow (Luke 18:1-8) is a demonstration of the need to persevere in calling when the answer is yet in our hand. God insisted, the devil resisted, but Moses persevered. Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Call on Him if you know Him and you are known in Him. His name will not fail you.

Prayer for today: Ask God to revive you in His righteousness.

FAITH CAPSULE: Having been made so wonderful with honor by God, and not having understanding is undoubtedly a way to perish.

Psalm 103, 139

The Psalmist testifies, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” (Psalm 139:14) The one that knows and understands the wonder of God in His creation of man will know what it means to praise God with understanding. The Psalmist identifies how wonderful man is in the hand of God when he was exploring the glory of God in God’s creation of man: Man is a creation that God is mindful of; man is the one that God pays visit to; man is made a little lower than the angels; man is crowned with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:4-5) The Psalmist went further identifying how wonderful man is in the hand of God when he stated that: God made man to have dominion over the works of His hands; all things were made to be under the feet of man. (Psalm 8:6-7) Considering all that God has done and invested in man, it cannot be denied that God made man to be His wonderful creation. What a wonderful God we serve? What an honor bestowed upon man? Having been made so wonderful with honor by God, and not having understanding is undoubtedly a way to perish. Not having the understanding of the honor that God has bestowed in the life of man is enough to agree with the Psalmist statement, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20) God, having bestowed so much upon man is not wrong to have so much expectation from man in obedience to His command. Just as if all that He has done is not enough, He went further to put in place loads of daily benefits for man.
King David also testifies to His daily benefits in Psalm 68:19, “Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits…”  In another Psalm of King David, the understanding of what the daily benefits are points to the reason why blessing the name of God should be rooted in understanding and not just by mouth. In Psalm 103, David blessed the Lord for His daily benefits and went further to identify the benefits stating: He forgives all our iniquities; heal our diseases; redeems life from destruction; crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies and satisfy our mouth with good things. (Psalm 103:1-5) The daily benefits are evident in our life daily. The point here is that, it is important for us to know and understand how man is wonderfully made and daily loaded with benefits. At all times of your praising and blessing His Holy name, let it be rooted in understanding. Remember, “Good understanding gains favor” (Proverbs 13:15) 

Prayer for today: Let all that is within you bless and praise God for a new day and a new month.

FAITH CAPSULE: Are you sleeping or sleep is holding you down?

Psalm 13, Acts 12

King David said, “Considered and hear me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; lest my enemy say I have prevailed against him, lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.”(Psalm 13:3-4) Before the making of this statement by King David, it is evident that he was concerned about not getting an answer for a prayer request when He earlier stated, “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1) Are you one that is looking up to God for intervention in any particular area of life? It could be that your situation demands more time to be awake in praying instead of sleeping the sleep of death. Peter once slept the sleep of death while under the harassing hand of Herod. Despite the fact that the same hand of King Herod took the life of James, the brother of John, Peter could not keep himself up and awake from a sleep of death. Sleeping the sleep of death is not only a time when one goes on bed to lie down and have eyes shut. For a believer, sleeping the sleep of death could mean taking a place of inactivity where challenges of the wicked one demands constant and persistent prayer. Paul and Silas could not sleep in the face of an evil agenda. Paul and Silas engaged in an overnight prayer and praise, worshiping God. By virtue of their action (Prayer and praising God), hell had no choice but to loose its grip on their life and deliverance was set in place for both of them. Interestingly, the same Peter went to the mount of prayer with Jesus and slept. Luke 9:32, “But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.” It was the prayer of the church that delivered Peter. It could have been that the same group that prayed for Peter must have been asleep when James was being terminated by the hand of Herod. Apparently, the death of James must have called for the church’s attention to pray for Peter. It is written, “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constantprayer was offered to God for him by the church.  And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.” (Acts 12:5-6) Peter could have been dead before fulfilling his divine assignment, but prayer of church in time of his sleeping prevailed on his behalf. David could not afford to go into sleep of death, he asked God to enlighten his eyes. Are you sleeping or sleep is holding you down?

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be alive and awake where there is need for it.

FAITH CAPSULE:Boasting God is announcing that with God all things are possible.

1 Samuel 17

The World English Dictionary defined boast as, “To speak in exaggerated or excessively proud terms of one’s possessions, skills, or superior qualities; brag.” One can only boast in whom one knows. Boasting in what one does not know is a demonstration of an empty barrel making noise. In your life, what or who is it that you know for sure is worth of all day boasting? The Psalmist testifies, “In God we boast all day long…” (Psalm 44:8) Unlike the world definition, there is no enough exaggeration in boasting of God. God is the One and only almighty God, He is the great I AM, He is worth of all day boasting when He is known by the one that boasts Him. Boasting in God is giving and gaining attention to and from God. Boasting in God is announcing that with God all things are possible. Boasting in God is looking in the face of your Goliath and letting him know is a living dead in your hand. Boasting in God is not what to be done only when there is a confronting challenge. Boasting in God is a constant engagement; an all day activity. Ones that boast with understand from the heart and not from the mouth do get their boost from the throne of grace. Boasting God all day long will boost up one where others are grounded.
Once, the armies of the children Israel and their God were being verbally abused. The children of Israel were emotionally and physical grounded in the face of their enemy. In this battle, Goliath stood his ground stating, “…Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” (1 Samuel 17:8-10) Whatever is defying a sincere child of God defies God and it should not be so. When David got to the battle ground, he responded to Goliath by boasting in God, “…You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you…” (1 Samuel 17:45-46) Know your God, boast in Him all day long and He will boost you over your Goliath.           

Prayer for today: Ask God to lead you in His truth and teach you His way.

FAITH CAPSULE: Contend together with God, He is a saving God not a slave master.   

Isaiah 38

God will not work without His word. God was sure of His word when He declared, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11) He never violates His word and whenever the word of God is violated, the violator is set to be violated by the world. The Psalmist testifies, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear…” (Psalm 4:1-2) A believer that holds onto this testimony need to know that God is true to His word but a failure for believer to disallow fear will disqualify the word answering to the believer.
God spoke in Isaiah 43:26 “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.” God that asked us to put Him in remembrance is not a forgetful God but expectant God that wants to get His due attention. The case of Hezekiah is evidence to God honoring His word regardless of challenges. The Bible recorded, “In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” (Isaiah 38:1) Hezekiah received a death sentence because his house was not in order. God of order expects His servant Hezekiah to maintain order in his house. Hezekiah does not want to die an untimely death; he needed God to work a way out for him not to die. Assume ably, the knowledge of God in Hezekiah made him to commit God to His word when he went and prayed. Hezekiah’s prayed, “…Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” (Isaiah 38:3) God that gave word to put Him in remembrance responded to Hezekiah’s prayer that asked God to remember him. God responded, “And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.”’ (Isaiah 38:4-6) Do you have a genuine case to state when you call on God to remember you? Contend together with God, He is a saving God not a slave master.     

Prayer for today: Ask God for the knowledge and understanding of His will in your life.